


Indicia

by akaparalian



Category: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25532047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akaparalian/pseuds/akaparalian
Summary: "How did you get this scar?"
Relationships: William Laurence/Tenzing Tharkay
Comments: 5
Kudos: 39
Collections: Temeraire Summer Exchange 2020





	Indicia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Borrowed_Voices](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Borrowed_Voices/gifts).



> <3

"How did you get this scar?"

Laurence is so close to sleep that the words take quite some time to filter through his brain to the point where he can actually comprehend them. By the time he parses Tenzing's question, it's been an almost awkwardly long amount of time, and by the time he looks down to where his lover has one hand loosely encircling his wrist — for Laurence has enough scars that it does take a little bit of work to indicate which of them one might be talking about at any given time — it has been long enough that he almost feels the need to apologize.

He tries his very best to be grateful at all times for the fact that they have the chance to lay together on quiet nights like this one, tucked up in bed in a room that smells so thoroughly of the both of them, but in moments like this, that gratitude comes to the forefront of his mind with a special sort of clarity. The night air is cool, but Tenzing's body, pressed sidelong against Laurence's own, is warm; they have spent their day pleasantly busy, engaged in the routine domestic tasks that Tenzing's estate necessitates, the sort of business that would have seemed wholly impossible only a few short years ago. And now, their bodies satisfied with the day's work and their attention turned to one another, they can rest together, listening to one another's heartbeats, and prepare for another day.

It almost curdles Laurence's stomach to spoil such a glorious evening with such an unpleasant story, but — well — Tenzing _did_ ask, and it would feel even worse to brush him off.

"That scar is very old," Laurence starts, his voice rough and scratchy with almost-sleep. "I'm almost surprised we haven't spoken of it before."

Tenzing says nothing, but from the way he shifts slightly — and from the way his mouth turns down at the corners, just on the edge of where Laurence can see — his thinking is relatively clear. Laurence has enough scars, in enough far-flung places on his body, that it's inevitable that there will be at least a few of them that the two of them have never discussed, even now. And Tenzing, though he himself is of course far from loose-lipped with his own bevy of personal stories and secrets, is none too happy about the idea that there are still parts of Laurence which are foreign to him.

After a long moment, Laurence continues, "I was quite young. It was my first heat, actually."

Though he doesn't react audibly, Tenzing goes so preternaturally still at that that Laurence almost wants to comfort him rather than continuing to tell the story. Tenzing, of course, is well enough aware of what Laurence's youth and early heats had been like, which was to say, not altogether pleasant. It certainly wasn't unheard of for boys in the service to present as omegas, but life aboard ship could be hostile at times even when one _wasn't_ falling ill every few months for days at a stretch. In the long run, Laurence likes to think that he's come out of the whole affair all right, but it hadn't always been easy, and he certainly would never wish it upon anyone else. As a captain — both in the Navy and in the Corps — he had always tried to be very cognizant of how omegas in his crews were treated, especially young omegas.

But besides any of the details of life as a young omega midshipman, there is also the fact, Laurence supposes, that any story about a scar that begins with "I was young and in heat" is bound to be particularly worrying.

"It was nothing untoward," he hastens to say, and indeed Tenzing relaxes just a little bit at that assurance. "I was just... well, I had no real idea what was happening to me. I was feverish, delirious... I, however, refused to be taken ill, and persisted in attempts to work despite the fact that I was nearly falling over with the first symptoms of a presenting heat. I got tangled in the rigging, and..." He rubs at the scar, his fingers brushing against Tenzing's as he does so. It's quite faded now, a happy effect of the many years that have passed since the injury, but at the time, and for many years after, it had been quite unpleasant, a dark, gnarled mark left behind by rope burn. "Well. I got horribly caught up. I almost lost the hand, in fact."

"Well, that would have been something," Tenzing murmurs, in that particular tone of his that Laurence has long since come to recognize as being blase in an attempt to cover up deep upset. "You and John could have had matching hooks. I know two dragons who would have had a field day competing to see who could find a hook with finer gold filigree." 

"Yes, I daresay they would," Laurence replies dryly, casting his gaze heavenward for a moment at the thought. As though Temeraire needs another excuse to dote over him and attempt to bedeck him with as many glittering garments as possible. "Regardless, it was deeply unpleasant to come out of my presenting heat to discover that not only was I an omega, but I'd be laid up for a good while recovering the use of my arm. I don't recall handling that terribly well."

_"You?"_ Tenzing asks, actually sitting up and leaning away so that Laurence can fully take in the way his incredulous tone is contrasted with a perfectly deadpan expression. "Surely you jest, my dear Captain Laurence."

"Oh, be quiet," Laurence says, laughing and reaching up to pull him back in. There's a moment of quiet, where the only sound in the room, beyond the whistling of the wind outside, is the soft press and slide of lips as they kiss, and the gentle sigh Laurence releases as they part. He relaxes back against the pillows, and Tenzing follows, settling his head against Laurence's shoulder.

"I do hate to think of you like that," Tenzing murmurs after a moment, just as Laurence is starting to drift towards sleep again. "Your first heat, and _wounded?_ I grow more convinced every day that you survived long enough to meet me by pure happenstance."

"I may find more trouble than most, but I always find my way back out of it," Laurence protests, very sensibly, in his opinion. Tenzing just snorts a laugh at that, so he decides to follow it up with a little jab, wrapped up in warm fondness though it is: "Not to worry, though, as I now have a good strong alpha to keep me out of trouble."

"I have scars of my own to prove I can't keep you out of trouble," Tenzing drawls, and Laurence is forced to concede that point, laughing softly and giving him a gentle squeeze.

"I suppose," he says, and then more quietly, he adds, "All the same, however, I am quite glad to have you."

He feels it against his skin when Tenzing smiles, and in the warmth and safety of their bedroom, there's nothing in the world to stop Laurence from reveling in the emotion that swells up in his chest at that.

"I know, Will," Tenzing says, as the two of them settle down to sleep. "I know.”


End file.
